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2019 campaign for St. Landry Parish Sheriff is on

The 2019 campaign for sheriff of St. Landry Parish currently features a popular incumbent seeking a fourth term and a pair of former deputies who are criticizing the way the department is currently structured and managed.

The 2019 campaign for sheriff of St. Landry Parish so far features a popular incumbent seeking a fourth term and a pair of former deputies who are criticizing the way the department is structured and managed.

Sheriff Bobby Guidroz officially announced his re-election last month, and challengers Paul DiCapo and Carl Hardy, who previously served as parish sheriff deputies, have each launched campaigns, which have been publicized on social media.

Guidroz, a former Louisiana state trooper, has been St. Landry’s sheriff since 2006. Since his 2019 re-election campaign began, Guidroz has promoted his law enforcement career, which dates back to 1979 when he first became a state police officer.

During the past 12 years as sheriff, Guidroz says, he has provided new services for the parish in both the areas of community outreach programs and law enforcement.

Deputy training, Guidroz points out, has been an important part of enhancing the department. Sheriff department work crews manned by inmate trustees have been part of a St. Landry litter-abatement program that is funded by the parish solid waste commission.

Guidroz says the sheriff’s department is preparing to move its civil tax collection division from the St. Landry Parish Courthouse to a new building that Guidroz said will cost about $2.5 million.

Guidroz maintains the new tax collection office better facilitates and expedites the collection process, because residents paying their annual property taxes won’t have the issues of finding downtown parking spaces and climbing the Courthouse steps.

Also, Guidroz said he demands strict accountability among his deputies and workers.

“I’ve arrested 12 deputies in the last 12 years. I want to hold them and all my employees accountable,” said Guidroz.

Arresting suspects and providing law enforcement and ancillary services for more than a decade has created its share of detriments, Guidroz said.

“It’s not an easy job. The reason is you can’t always say yes. I’m always making friends and losing some daily,” Guidroz pointed out.

DiCapo, retired from law enforcement since 2008, was a chief investigator for the District Attorney’s Office for 21 years. He was first assigned to the DA’s office by former sheriff Howard Zerangue and then went to work for Guidroz in 2006 first as an investigator and later as a patrol supervisor.

Over the years, DiCapo claims, the sheriff’s department has become increasingly top heavy with employees placed in highly paid positions, while enhancing the number of deputies with the patrol divisions have been neglected.

“The most deputies who are out there on the road at any one time is four,” DiCapo said. "I want to put more deputies on the road and increase the presence of the substations in LeBeau and Eunice, which are now understaffed and almost closed under their current conditions."

DiCapo maintains the creation of the new tax collection office is in his opinion “a waste of taxpayers’ money, considering the cost of the building and parcels of land that were bought in order to place the office there.”

The Sheriff’s election, which begins in August during qualifying, is one that DiCapo predicts will be close, but one that DiCapo thinks he can win.

“I’m going to beat (Guidroz). He can get ready,” said DiCapo.

Like DiCapo, Hardy is focusing his campaign on redesigning the sheriff’s department with an emphasis on providing more patrol units.

On March 21, Hardy wrote on his Facebook Page that there were only four deputies working on that day.

“The patrol division has a manpower problem. There’s a high turnover rate and Guidroz has failed to make the tough decisions of pulling supervisors and detectives and placing them on patrol,” according to Hardy’s post on that day.

Hardy, who has had nearly 17 years of law enforcement experience as a deputy and municipal police officer, said during a telephone interview on Friday that he plans to bring what he called “a fresh perspective” in the sheriff’s office. Hardy said if elected his department would include 10 deputies on each shift in addition to a crime supervision team.

The sheriff’s department, Hardy said, now has too many former state troopers on the payroll who have more experience, he claimed, handling wrecks and writing tickets than carrying out the duties required of a rural department.

“I am certified in a bunch of different areas, like homicide and SWAT team,” Hardy said. "I’m the most experienced in the kind of law enforcement needed to be the sheriff.

“I’m bringing a different kind of vibe to the sheriff’s office. I’m a law man, not a politician."